Monday, December 15, 2014

I understand that an organization that produces as muchcontent as you do will, occasionally, produce something impressively tone-deaf (see Alessandra Stanley's piece about Shonda Rhimes last September). But for the most part, I love your paper. I read it daily. I get it on my Kindle and my iPhone, just in case I'm jonesing for some news and one of my gadgets isn't available. Reading the Sunday Times is probably the only ritual I've performed for over twenty years.

Imagine my glee when I saw "9 Kisses," in this Sunday's (12-14-14) edition: a movie that promised to show me 9 short films, each one featuring a kiss between two great actors from the last year in movies.

I like kissing. I like movie stars. This'll be fun, I thought.

Each kiss hits a different note, and the piece is successful as a whole, on an aesthetic level, because of the gamut it runs. In their stolen kiss outside a costume party, Reese Witherspoon and Benedict Cumberbatch show us how furtiveness ups a kiss's sexiness like nothing else. The unexpected passion of Laura Dern and Steve Carrell's lip-lock is used to great comedic effect. When Shailene Woodley kisses her trainer Jack O'Connell after accidentally punching him in the face, something unexpected bubbles between them, a surprise that reveals a world underneath. Each kiss in each of the short films has a definitive, unique tone.

Which is why I find it so incredibly offensive for the only guy-on-guy kiss in this piece to be a desparate ploy, between David Oyelowo and Timothy Spall (4:50 - 5:35).

I encourage the readers to watch all eight minutes of the movie (video box at the top of this blog, or click here) - it's quite enjoyable, for the most part. Here's the synopsis: David Oyelowo and Timothy Spall are in a saloon, arm-wrestling. It looks like David Oyelowo (younger, stronger) is going to win, but then that rascal Timothy Spall kisses his opponent (on the lips, no less!), distracting him and giving Timothy Spall the edge he needs to win.

This kiss is aggressively anti-romantic. It is a tactic between two real guys partaking in a macho activity, something so butch that it eliminates the possibility that either one of them might be actual homosexuals. Don't worry - your movie tells its viewers - not only is the guy-on-guy kiss de-sexualized as much as possible (it's also the shortest kiss in the flick), none of the characters in this movie are gay men.

And I think this is really at the heart of why I think your film sucks, New York Times: you were too cowardly to dare to show what a real kiss between two men looks like. The girl-on-girl action (Jenny Slate & Rosario Dawson, 2:15 - 3:00) is sexy, joyous and full of love. And I get it - from before we are conscious of sex, we're taught to think that lesbians are sexy while fags are scary. But this film has an opportunity to combat the nasty, latter part of that stereotype, to show some genuine warmth or romance or kindness between two men kissing. In failing to do so, you don't just eschew your responsibility: you perpetuate close-mindedness.

In the behind-the-scenes movie that accompanies "9 Kisses" (entitled, obviously enough, "The Making of 9 Kisses") director Elaine Constantine says that, "We decided it would be all public spaces at night." (1:20) Gay marriage is legal 35 states in the USA right now. Wouldn't a more powerful dramatic choice, let alone a less homophobic one, be creating a film where two men kiss after reciting wedding vows to each other, for example? Or what about a proposal. Getting down on one knee and proposing to my now-husband was the scariest moment of my life - full of dramatic possibility with infinite richness.

Instead, in depicting the kiss between two men as a desperate
ploy and last resort, you reinforce the idea that the only appropriate
response to kissing another man is to feel shame. Well, I think you and
the film's director, Elaine Constantine, are the ones who should feel
ashamed.

Or, better yet, do something about it. I dare you, New York Times and Elaine Constatine: get two great male actors from 2014 movies and create another 45 second film showing them kissing in any scenario that's not drenched in shame. Show me funny, show me touching, show me stupid. Show me anything. But don't show me shame. I grew up surrounded by it. I have to deal with looks and threats, still, when I hold my husband's hand in public. I have had enough shame.

To end on a what I hope is a positive, constructive note: here's a picture of me and my husband kissing at the end of our wedding ceremony. I thought I'd include it in the hope it might inspire you to see the gorgeous possibilities.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

It's been a while since I blogged. The contributing factors: I haven't really cared about anything enough to blog about it, I've been investing time and resources in my newsletter, which felt like a more efficient means of getting the word out about One Man Guy, and because let's face it: it's hard to imagine an entry that's going to get as many hits as the one about my wedding, and not just becausewe had a freakin' rainbow, as clear proof we're going to get that God loves the gays.

Recently, however, something got me so riled up that I took the keyboard again. After a certain public library obtainedOne Man Guy, it decided to place it in the adult section, instead of Young Adult.

First of all: how could I possibly know this?Well, I'll tell you how. Like most things, it traces back to Vassar College, where I directed a production of Six Degrees of Separation (cast pictures below).

I remained friends with the actor playing Flan Kittredge, even after he left New York, through the magic of facebook and a deep affection we shared. Turns out a relative of "Flan"'s works at a Public Library Whose Name I'm Not Disclosing. This relative heard about my book, advocated for its purchase even though, "Some dingleberries in charge of such things apparently expressed some concern over its non-traditional content."

The compromise, apparently, was to purchase the book, but to put it in the adult fiction section to make sure that young people's mind aren't polluted by its non-traditional content, even though in an email that "Flan" forwarded to me, "ALL the other membership libraries have it in YA, as does Barnes & Noble."

I have been incredibly moved by young people's reactions to One Man Guy, from the teens I meet at B&N whom I convince to buy the book, to the ones who write me via my website to tell me what the book means to them. Some samples quotes:

"It's the girl that you saw at Barnes & Noble a few days ago. :) I
finished your book the night that I got it. I really enjoyed. It was
really funny and I just couldn't put the book down." -Jasmin

"Hi Michael! I recently finished your book One Man Guy and fell in love
with the story. I can relate to the characters. Thanks
so much!" -Jacob

"I'm a part of the LGBTQ community and this book means something to me. The reason i read this book is because i was looking for a book to read
on the plane to Cali and I picked up your book and saw what is was
about. My aunt was the one purchasing the book and saw the cover and
whisper "no no this supports homosexuality" and would not buy. I did not
want to make a scene but I was so angry that i made it a personal goal
of mine to read and one day own the book. Thank for make me feel proud
of my sexuality and who I love." -J. Thomas

"Thank you so much for writing this book.. It has given me so much hope
that when I come out to my parents they won't freak out.. I'm the same
age as Alek is in this book.. It's just made such a difference on how I look at everything." K.W.

Truth and Justice and the American Way prevailed, however, as the library's director, in response to this fierce advocacy, decided to move OMG into the YA section.

I'm so grateful for everyone who has championed my little book, and helped it find its readership.

p.s. I just got an email inquiring about the availability of OMG'S tv/film rights!

Friday, April 4, 2014

I got invited to do this author blog hop thing and since I haven't posted in (who even knows how long) and because I like the author who invited me to do it so much, I said yes.

Elise Forier Edie wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics to the ah-mazing musical Rebel Girls, inspired by the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 in Lawrence, MA. I was match-made with Elise and the show's composer, Tina Lear, to direct a workshop of their musical. They were awesome. With the help of lots of index cards and yummy snacks, we holed ourselves into the CAP 21 conference room and re-organized the entire show in a day. They trusted me, I loved the material, and we had one helluva time. Apparently, Elise even blogged about how great our experience was.So when Elise invited me, I took Bob Moss's advice: say yes. I said yes. Here are the answers to my questions, and at the end of this post, you'll find Elise's info, along with the info of three other fab writers whom I invited to participate in this thing.

1)What am I working on?

My first book, One Man Guy, is being published in May
(Macmillan, FSG).It’s about Alek,
a fourteen-year old Armenian boy who falls for New York City, the music of
Rufus Wainwright and a totally hot skater boy over the course of one epic
summer.

I’ve been working on my second book, The Aether Wild,
for a few years.It’s a
collaboration with two friends, Suzanne Agins and Rosemary Andress, who are both primarily
theater directors like me. How many directors does it take to write a book? Three, apparently.The
Aether Wild is a science fiction/fantasy post-apocalyptic adventure story
about a girl determined to save the world at all costs.

Other projects include adapting Paradise Lost for the stage and a commission from the Sloan
Foundation, which I’m using to write a play about Lucretius, the Ancient Roman
scientist/philosopher who wrote De Rerum
Natura, which translates into something like: The Way Things Are, The
Nature of the Universe or The Nature of Things.

2)How does my
work differ from others of its genre?

To be honest, I haven’t read many coming out stories, so I’m
not exactly sure what the norm is.Going by the feedback I’ve been getting from Goodreads, it seems like
most coming out novels fall on the angsty side.I came out when I was twenty-one (and not to my parents
until I was twenty-three) and I remember how incredibly anxiety-making it
was.I was not, however, especially
interested in writing that because my parents, like the parents of most people
I know, accepted my coming out with great love.I’m not saying it wasn’t awkward, or that other people’s
coming out isn’t more traumatic.I
just felt like we’d seen and read that story plenty, given how the times are
a-changin’, I wanted to write a story in which the coming out wasn’t the big
deal event.

3)Why do I
write what I do?

Wendy Wasserstein

For most of my life, writing was like going to loud bars: I knew lots of people who appeared to enjoy it, but it never occurred to me that it was something I myself would like. Then Wendy Wasserstein died and I missed her, and writing was an activity that I associated with her, having been her typists for five years. So I started writing as a way of remembering Wendy.

When I write a
play or book, it’s because I can’t not
write it.Something about the
story demands to be told.I have
one such story bubbling inside of me.I don’t want to write it, in that I’ve very busy now and over-committed
and don’t really have time, but it is insisting on being told and so soon, I
imagine, I will start typing.

On a more conscious level, I try to write stories that I
don’t think have been told (or told enough) yet.Many readers of One Man Guy learned about the
existence of the Armenian genocide through the book, and the idea that I can
help tell that story feels incredibly important to me.

4)How does my
writing process work?

When I’m dealing with the frightful proposition of a blank
screen, I need to write early, before my husband wakes up, when I’m barely
conscious, when I can’t filter or even think about what I’m writing.I usually have a sense of what I’m
going to write (I outline and research heavily before I begin), but I
do my best first-draft writing first thing in the morning.

Then I’ll try to do something that has nothing to do with
writing – I’ll go to my yoga studio or do some cooking, take a bike ride.I’ll revisit the pages in the
afternoon, and often be totally surprised at the words I’m reading, as if
someone else wrote them.I find
that’s the best way to look at my own work.

When it comes to re-writing, I’m better at that in the
afternoon.I like to work a
little, take a nap, work some more.I prefer to do that at tables, rather than desks, because tables are
bigger and I like to spread out.Or, if I just need to read, I like to do that lying down on a sofa,
because then when I want to take a nap I don’t need to move.

Amy Boyce Holtcamp - was my muse in college, the lead of just about every play I directed. She continued to go to UW to study directing, and now lives in the sexiest city in the country, New Orleans, with her rock star-dramaturg husband Victor who teaches at Tulane and often proofs my blog out of the kindness of his OCD heart. Amy is one of my favorite collaborators, a great writer and director. Mary Beth Caschetta and I met at the memorial service for Ann Imbrie, who had taught us both at Vassar a decade apart. Ann had mentioned Mary Beth regularly, and by the time I met her I felt like I had already known her. Being able to share the loss of Ann with someone else who had known and loved her was incredibly valuable to me, and I love how Mary Beth writes about painful things directly and unsentimentally.

Isaac Butler, on the other hand, got to Vassar the year after I left, and we met at Soho Rep, where he assisted me one summer producing a festival of new plays. Like me and Amy, he's a director and writer, and without a doubt the most well-read and well-watched guy out there.